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Ingredients
3 1/2 pound fresh young chicken
Salt and pepper
6 fresh sage leaves (or 4 sprigs of fresh tarragon
or 1/2 teaspoon dried herbes
de Provence)
1 large lemon, cut in 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 cup mixed roughly chopped carrots and onions
Special equipment
A roasting pan 2 inches deep; a V-shaped roasting
rack; a pastry brush for basting; a board or platter
for resting and carving; cotton kitchen twine
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Instructions
Set the rack on the lower middle level and preheat the
oven to 425°F.
Rinse the chicken thoroughly, inside and out, under
hot water, then dry it with paper towels. Remove any
lumps of fat from inside the cavity near the tail opening.
To make carving easier, remove the wishbone. Lift the
flap of neck skin and insert a thin, sharp knife into
each end of the breast; then slice diagonally along
both sides of the wishbone. Use your finger and thumb
to loose the bone, pry it out at the top, and pull it
down. If it breaks, carefully wiggle out the pieces.
Trim the small bony protrusions, or “nubbins,”
from the wing tip joint. Then fold the wings up against
the breast, where they will be held in place by the
V-rack.
Salt and pepper the cavity and stuff it with the sage
leaves and 3 or 4 thick slices of lemon; give the slices
a squeeze as you put them in. Massage the butter over
the entire chicken skin, including undersides, then
salt generously.
Tie the ends of the drumsticks together with twine.
Arrange the chicken breast-up on the rack in the roasting
pan and tuck the flap of neck skin underneath. Squeeze
the juice of the remaining lemon pieces over the top.
Roasting the chicken:
Set the roasting pan in the oven. After 15 minutes,
lower heat to 350°F. When the chicken is beginning
to brown rapidly, baste with accumulated pan juices.
Roast for an hour, adding the onions and carrots after
30 minutes and basting several times. Very carefully
test for doneness, checking for easy movement in the
leg joint and clear color in the juices. Return it to
the oven if there is any sign of pinkness. (A small
chicken will roast in about 1 1/4 hours, a larger one
may take 1 1/2 hours or more.) When done, remove the
chicken from the rack and set it on a board to rest
for 15 minutes before carving. This allows the juices
to retreat back into the flesh.
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